Bellator 200 results and highlights: Mousasi easily wins MW title

Check out the results and highlights from Bellator 200, where Gegard Mousasi stopped Rafael Carvalho in the first round to capture the middleweight belt.

Bellator 200 is in the books and the promotion saw their middleweight title change hands, when Gegard Mousasi stopped Rafael Carvalho with ground strikes in the first round. Mousasi has become the first fighter to ever win a title in both Strikeforce and Bellator MMA. Mousasi has shown to be the top of the food chain in bellator’s middleweight division, so who will be next to challenge for Bellator’s middleweight crown? Well, on the mic after the fight, Mousasi called out the promotion’s welterweight champ, Rory MacDonald, so there’s that.

In what was a bit of an anti-climatic ending, Michael Page remained undefeated when David Rickels verbally submitted while standing, after being cut around the eye in the second round. We’ve seen MVP pull out a Poke’ Ball after a victory before, but this time it was the Infinity Gauntlet from the movie Avengers: Infinity War. Now sitting at 13-0, who will be next for the London fighter? Geordie Shore reality TV star Aaron Chalmers just won his Bellator debut by club and subbing Ash Griffiths in just under two minutes. Chalmers now resides at 4-0, all of which have been finished in the first round.

We also got an electrifying display of violence on the main card when Mike Shipman stormed the castle of his opponent, dropping Carl Noon and then knocking him out with hammerfists in just 11 seconds. England’s own Kate Jackson dished out the first loss of Anastasia Yankova’s young career, picking up a solid unanimous decision win with two scorecards showing marks of 30-26 in her favor. Opening up the main card, Bellator’s former light heavyweight champion, Phil Davis, picked up a highlight reel knockout when he kicked Linton Vassell in the face, just over a minute into the third round.

Main Card:

Gegard Mousasi def. Rafael Carvalho by TKO at 3:35 of round 1: Middleweight Title

It didn’t take very long for Mousasi to shoot in and take Carvalho to the mat. Carvalho did quickly get back to his feet, but got quickly taken back down. Mousasi was all over his opponent, transitioning to full mount and then to the back, as Carvalho struggled with the top pressure. A heavy barrage of ground strikes started scoring for Mousasi, and the referee stepped in to rescue Carvalho. And new!

Michael Page def. David Rickels by submission (Verbal) at :43 of round 2: Welterweight

After a rather intense pre-fight stare-down, Page took the center of the cage and began his typical MVP shuffle. Page leaped in several times with laser-like quickness, tagging Rickels before he knew what hit him. The pressure of Rickels started to increase as Page started to fight going backwards, but then out of nowhere, Page caught his opponent with a jousting punch that sat him down. Rickels recovered and got back to his feet, but wasn’t able to do anything to take the round before time ran out.

To open the second frame, Page caught his foe with a punch that cut Rickels on his eyelid. In an unexpected turn of events, Rickels elected to quit the match in open space, awarding MVP the TKO victory. It’s a solid win for Page but definitely one with a weird ending.

Aaron Chalmers def. Ash Griffiths by technical submission (Guillotine) at 1:54 of round 1 : Catchweight of 163 pounds

Griffiths closed the distance right away, forcing Chalmers to fend off the takedown. Chalmers got taken down, but did get back to his feet, not without getting kneed in the face first. So how does Chalmers respond? With a heavy right hand that dropped Griffiths, of course. Chalmers quickly cinched up a standing guillotine choke, causing Griffiths to go limp and the fight to be stopped.

Mike Shipman def. Carl Noon by KO at :11 of round 1: Middleweight

A right hand from Shipman immediately dropped Noon right out of the gate. Shipman followed up with some savage hammerfists that put his opponent out cold, not even given Noon a chance to recover. Well then!

Kate Jackson def. Anastasia Yankova by unanimous decision (30-26 x2, 29-27): (W) Flyweight

Yankova found herself with on the bottom of Jackson within the first minute of the opening round. Jackson moved from position to position, controlling Yankova on the ground and dumping off a big barrage of short shots. yankova did not return to her feet for the rest of the round.

Jackson quickly closed the distance in the second round, forcing her foe up against the fence before getting the takedown. Yankova would find her moment to return to her feet, but immediately found herself with her back to the fence again. Yankova did land some ground strikes as Jackson went for a leg lock, but nothing of any substance.

Yankova came out launching her kicks to open the final frame, but it wasn’t long before Jackson was controlling her up against the cage again. Just when Jackson seemed to be in complete control, she botched a takedown and Yankova was able to land on top. As Yankova attempted to take back control, Jackson was able to spin around on top of her to finish the fight with heavy ground strikes as time ran out.

Phil Davis def. Linton Vassell by KO at 1:05 into round 3: Light Heavyweight

Both athletes were content to stand and trade for the bulk of the opening round. Vassell did a pretty sound job of staying on his feet, not allowing the credentialed wrestler to get the takedown. Davis started pouring on the offense in the final 30 seconds of the opening round, landing an assortment of punches and knees before time expired.

The first half of the second stanza saw more kickboxing from the light heavyweights, with neither man really stressing the takedown. Davis did punch his way into a bodylock takedown, but Vassell did a superb job of getting right back to his feet, even briefly picking up a takedown of his own. Both athletes got in a few good licks within the final 30 seconds of what was a pretty close round.

Just when it appeared as if the back and forth kickboxing would continue, the third round saw Phil Davis land a spectacular head kick that dropped Vassell like a bad habit. One follow up ground strike later, and the referee was pulling Davis off of his victim. Kickboxing Phil Davis got a KO!

Prelims:

Anatoly Tokov def. Vladimir Filipovic by submission at :56 of round 1

Charlie Ward def. Martin Hudson by TKO at 2:23 of round 1

Costello Van Steenis def. Kevin Fryer by TKO at 1:27 in round 1

Pedro Carvalho def. Daniel Crawford by split decision

Charlie Leary def. Tom Green by TKO at 4:58 of round 2

Mike Ekundayo def. Tom Mearns by submission (injury) at 1:02 of round 2

Amir Albazi vs. Iurie Bejenari by submission at 3:21 of round 1

Walter Gahadza def. Kent Kauppinen by submission (RNC) at 2:04 of round 2

Jahreau Shephard def. Marcin Zywica by TKO at 5:00 of round 1